Adventures at My New Company - Story #3
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"Oh, Okay!"
Today I witnessed a fellow developer get written up. I have to say that he totally deserved it. Here's what happened.
At our weekly programming update meeting, we were going around the room giving our usual weekly updates. It was pretty standard stuff, until we got sidetracked and went off on a tangent. The topic was IP addressing and the boss had some new idea on how to mask the address when serving up a webpage. It was a very bizarre idea. It almost sounded like Norton Internet Security's model, but inverted. Our boss isn't "internet savvy" in my opinion, so I don't criticize him for being ignorant.
One of the junior developers, a younger guy (mid 20s), jumps into the conversation with "Oh, Okay!"
Now you have to understand how he said this. Have you ever watched Sesame Street? Have you ever heard the character Ernie? And how he talks to Bert? Imagine Ernie saying "Oh, Okay Bert!"
It's the equivalent of "Whatever, you stupid _____." It had that feel to it.
The boss turned red and growled, "I'm writing you up this instant. Insubordination!"
So he did. On the spot.
My only question about the whole thing is that I thought "insubordination" was no longer on the books as an offense. That's very old school philosophy if you ask me. But the guy definitely deserved it.
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Re: Adventures at My New Company - Story #3
your boss is the one that needs to be fired. the young guy probably said that because he realized at that moment that it would be better to be written up and make his boss shut up than to sit there and listen to nonsense for an hour.
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Re: Adventures at My New Company - Story #3
Yea, count me in as somebody who thinks the boss was clearly the asshole in that story. I probably would have quit on the spot if that happened to me. My boss probably would have just laughed it off. Then again, he wouldn't have said something that stupid in the first place.
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Re: Adventures at My New Company - Story #3
What kind of fucked company entertains the concept of "insubordination"?
What is this? A pirate ship? The army?
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@dhromed said:
What kind of fucked company entertains the concept of "insubordination"?
What is this? A pirate ship? The army?
Sadly most of them seem to act like this (not for something as stupid, but the concept of "insubordination"). Management thinks that because they somehow got into management, they know everything about everything, and employees should just shut up and do what they're told, instead of think rationally (because, you know, it might make the boss look like the idiot he is). So the whole concept of "insubordination" is there to keep "grunts in line" and from making management (They do the real work, you know. The rest of us are shit and could be replaced easily) look bad.
Utter rubbish concept, of course, but that's how the world works.
Although now I'm intrigued at the idea of treating a company like a pirate ship and making insubordinates walk the plank. It could work, too, since our local football team is pirate-themed. Yarr!
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@TheRubyWarlock said:
@dhromed said:
What kind of fucked company entertains the concept of "insubordination"?
What is this? A pirate ship? The army?
Sadly most of them seem to act like this (not for something as stupid, but the concept of "insubordination"). Management thinks that because they somehow got into management, they know everything about everything, and employees should just shut up and do what they're told, instead of think rationally (because, you know, it might make the boss look like the idiot he is). So the whole concept of "insubordination" is there to keep "grunts in line" and from making management (They do the real work, you know. The rest of us are shit and could be replaced easily) look bad.
Utter rubbish concept, of course, but that's how the world works.
Although now I'm intrigued at the idea of treating a company like a pirate ship and making insubordinates walk the plank. It could work, too, since our local football team is pirate-themed. Yarr!
Walk the plank huh? Great idea. I wish I had read this last week when one of my developers was almost screaming at me for breaking some part of her code with a much-needed change in a stored proc (it's ok if she break everybody else's code though). The fact that our office is on the 14th floor somehow makes the whole idea that much more uplifting.
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@zedhex said:
@TheRubyWarlock said:
@dhromed said:
What kind of fucked company entertains the concept of "insubordination"?
What is this? A pirate ship? The army?
Sadly most of them seem to act like this (not for something as stupid, but the concept of "insubordination"). Management thinks that because they somehow got into management, they know everything about everything, and employees should just shut up and do what they're told, instead of think rationally (because, you know, it might make the boss look like the idiot he is). So the whole concept of "insubordination" is there to keep "grunts in line" and from making management (They do the real work, you know. The rest of us are shit and could be replaced easily) look bad.
Utter rubbish concept, of course, but that's how the world works.
Although now I'm intrigued at the idea of treating a company like a pirate ship and making insubordinates walk the plank. It could work, too, since our local football team is pirate-themed. Yarr!
Walk the plank huh? Great idea. I wish I had read this last week when one of my developers was almost screaming at me for breaking some part of her code with a much-needed change in a stored proc (it's ok if she break everybody else's code though). The fact that our office is on the 14th floor somehow makes the whole idea that much more uplifting.
A similar effect may be generated by greasing the stairwells.
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I would have written him up even if he had said that (in that manner) to a peer in a meeting. That's unacceptable behavior, insubordination or no. However, actually performing disciplinary action during a meeting is true WTFery and should have been dealt with by this manager's own superior.
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Re: Adventures at My New Company - Story #3
What's worse, saying something stupid or saying something is stupid?
Sounds like a bit of an over reaction from the boss, he needs to grow a bit of a sense of humour. I try not to critiscise my seniors (depending on my relationship with them) but i can understand the guys position, someone has just said something really dumb and you can't explain why it's dumb without getting into a detailed explanation of the subject, in this case ip addressing, so you just say "Oh OK" with no intention of ever thinking about it again. Maybe the guy miscalculated the tone he used for the comment and didn't mean to sound so condescending but then again maybe he did. If a boss decided to write me up for "insubordination" for something so small i'd pretty much be looking for a new job that afternoon
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Re: Adventures at My New Company - Story #3
@CPound said:
My only question about the whole thing is that I thought "insubordination" was no longer on the books as an offense. That's very old school philosophy if you ask me. But the guy definitely deserved it.
That's funny, my reaction is that "writing somebody up" was no longer, er, on the books as a procedure. Where is my boss going to "write me up"? In my "permanent record"???
Aside from that, of course insubordination is still on the books. One would hope though that it would be reserved for more severe cases than this, such as directly, knowingly, purposefully, and flagrantly disobeying orders/policies/procedures, resulting in real harm to the company. Now that's insubordination worthy of being written up.
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Worked at a small mom and pop type place once; run by some little pr*ck who thought he could walk on water. He was always threatening to write me up for insubordination, and I would just laugh (Actually, I kept coming up with elaborate theories about how he first came across that world, and how he reasoned that that is proper word to use). He would get so frustrated wanting to know why I was laughing. After I explained that that word is completely stupid, he would just get so mad that he would just leave. Only jerks with inflated egos and small sex organs use that word. If you feel someone has disrespected you, you take them aside and tell them they have a bad attitude and they lack the respect that you feel you have shown them (You show them respect, right?). You can tell them that if it happens again they will be fired, but you don't have to use the term "insubordination." Unless of course you are twelve and think that is how grown-ups are suppossed to act.
